See the World’s Largest Flying American Flag at Stevens on July 3

6/12/2012

If you look skyward on July 3, you’ll be treated to a spectacular sight – the world’s largest free-flying American flag floating patriotically approximately 100 feet overhead.

In what has become an annual tradition, the massive flag - a specially-shaped hot air balloon that at 53 feet tall, 78 feet across and 29 feet deep is the size of a five-story building – will rise above Stevens’ DeBaun Athletic Field. Inflation of the PNC Bank-sponsored flag, which was built to memorialize 9-11, will begin at the crack of dawn, and people in the vicinity of Stevens should be able to catch a glimpse of it in the air between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m.

The balloon will also be featured next month in the 30th Annual Quick Chek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning in Association with PNC Bank to be held from July 27-29, 2012 at Solberg Airport in Readington, N.J. The annual 3-day event is the nation’s largest summertime hot air balloon and music festival, featuring 100 balloons from around the world and attracting 175,000 people.

“Stevens has been a great partner for the past nine years as we salute the nation,” said Russ Mensch, media director of the Quick Chek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning. “It’s a great way to kick off summer and the festival by raising the American Flag hot air balloon here.”